2008 Woodie Awards
Plans to develop vacant lot in Charles Village delayed again
Issue date: 3/27/08
The future site of the Olmsted - the gaping, undeveloped lot on 33rd and St. Paul Streets - will remain vacant at least through the summer, as plans to begin construction in August have been suspended indefinitely.
Due in part to the national housing slump, which has affected Charles Village as a whole, the delay is yet another in a series of setbacks that have slowed the project for a year and half.
"We need to have something happen, it needs to be positive, and it needs to be soon," said Dana Moore, president of the Charles Village Civic Association (CVCA).
At a meeting of the CVCA Wednesday night, Tim Pula, senior development director at Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse (SBER), the contractors responsible for the Olmsted, presented new plans for the building while informing the residents of the delay.
"The building couldn't be financed today because of the economy," said Pula, who took over the Olmsted project in July of last year. "Our plan, when changing from condos to apartment units, was to put shovels in the ground in August. Now, we're not going to make August."
Motivated in part by poor sales of condominiums in the Village Lofts (another SBER project), the Olmsted was redesigned from a condominium complex into an apartment complex.
The new design will offer the originally intended groundfloor retail space as well as office space.
"When the condo market started to fall apart last year, it didn't get better a month or two down the line. It got worse. That's when we decided not to proceed with a condo project," Pula said.
Moore said the majority of Charles Village is pleased with the Olmsted's new design.
"We all accept now that condos are not a good market and that there's a need for good affordable housing in Charles Village," she said. "We're so far from where we started, but we're slow-walking towards something more desirable."
John Spurrier, CVCA vice president and a Baltimore realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, echoed Moore, noting Hopkins's significance in the redesign.
Due in part to the national housing slump, which has affected Charles Village as a whole, the delay is yet another in a series of setbacks that have slowed the project for a year and half.
"We need to have something happen, it needs to be positive, and it needs to be soon," said Dana Moore, president of the Charles Village Civic Association (CVCA).
At a meeting of the CVCA Wednesday night, Tim Pula, senior development director at Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse (SBER), the contractors responsible for the Olmsted, presented new plans for the building while informing the residents of the delay.
"The building couldn't be financed today because of the economy," said Pula, who took over the Olmsted project in July of last year. "Our plan, when changing from condos to apartment units, was to put shovels in the ground in August. Now, we're not going to make August."
Motivated in part by poor sales of condominiums in the Village Lofts (another SBER project), the Olmsted was redesigned from a condominium complex into an apartment complex.
The new design will offer the originally intended groundfloor retail space as well as office space.
"When the condo market started to fall apart last year, it didn't get better a month or two down the line. It got worse. That's when we decided not to proceed with a condo project," Pula said.
Moore said the majority of Charles Village is pleased with the Olmsted's new design.
"We all accept now that condos are not a good market and that there's a need for good affordable housing in Charles Village," she said. "We're so far from where we started, but we're slow-walking towards something more desirable."
John Spurrier, CVCA vice president and a Baltimore realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, echoed Moore, noting Hopkins's significance in the redesign.
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